There is little agreement about how the ability to read route maps initially emerges and about how it should be stimulated by early childhood educators. This study assessed the route map reading behavior of young children and the basic skills that might contribute to that behavior. In individual videotaped sessions, 120 four, five, and six year…

Conservation ability, spatial motor ability, age, and gender were used as predictive variables in a study of 26 kindergarten children's computer programming ability. A preliminary pilot study with first graders had suggested that programming success was related to the ability to reverse thought processes. In both studies, children were taught to…

The study of trigonometric functions in terms of the unit circle offer an example of how students can learn algebraic relations and operations while using visually oriented thinking. Illustrations are included. (MNS)

It is suggested that there are three levels of difficulty posing barriers to successful problem-solving performance: (1) entry into the problem; (2) basic skills; and (3) general cognitive skills. The levels are described in some detail and suggestions for instructional methods are given. (MP)

Presents study findings which supported the use of answer-until-correct tests. Discusses results based on responses of secondary students from England (N=387) that revealed that the answer-until-correct test of mechanical reasoning had similar findings to the spatial reasoning test. (ML)

Upholds the importance and need for including visuo-spatial skill exercises in science lessons. Provides suggestions for improving students' visualization skills and reviews the approaches that have been successful with students who were poor in visual skills. (ML)

This report, arising from a 1991 meeting, provides an update to two of the six areas covered in the 1989 long-term plan of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. These include: (1) balance and the vestibular system; and (2) language and language impairments. For each area, the state of the art is reviewed, recent…

The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) published a new learning style instrument in 1986--the NASSP Learning Style Profile (LSP). The LSP yields independent scores on 24 discrete elements of learning style. Its purpose is to provide educators with a well-validated and easy to use instrument for diagnosing cognitive styles,…

Examines the hypothesis that there are preliminary stages in problem solving that are often neglected in teaching chemistry. Discusses correlations calculated between the student's ability to handle disembedding and cognitive restructuring tasks in the spatial domain and ability to solve chemistry problems. (TW)

Outlines a simple classroom demonstration that illustrates Piagetian conservation. Piagetian conservation refers to the illusion of an increase in mass by changing an object's form. This demonstration, done by forming an ellipse with an extension cord, shows that college students are as susceptible to this effect as are young children. (MJP)

Abstracts of 11 mathematics education research studies are provided. Each abstract is accompanied by the abstractor's analysis of or comments about the study. Studies reported include: "The Importance of Spatial Visualization and Cognitive Development for Geometry Learning in Preservice Elementary Teachers"; "Classroom Ratio of High…

This manual is a revision of the manual originally published in 1983. Since then it has been discovered that stimulus drawing tasks, like the Drawing from Imagination subtest of the Silver Drawing Test of Cognitive and Creative Skills (SDT), can be used to screen for depression and emotional adjustment. New research findings are the basis for…

This book describes the unique characteristics of visual-spatial learners and teaching techniques designed for this population. Following a quiz to identify visual-spatial learners, chapters address: (1) how visual-spatial learners think and the plight of being non-sequential; (2) the power of the right hemisphere, eye movement patterns, and…

Discusses a variation on tiling that offers opportunities for the construction of the fundamental mathematical concept of constructing abstract units called "unitizing." Tiling integrates geometric and numerical settings to develop spatial sense and present mathematics as constructing patterns. (MDH)

The effect on performance of different formats for typical mathematics story problems was studied, along with the relationship of certain learner variables. More than 1200 children in grades 3-8, including over 220 learning-disabled students, were tested and/or interviewed. Story problems were in the usual format found in textbooks, an abbreviated…